Thousands of New Yorkers made the trek down to Washington, D.C., last weekend to be a part of Barack Obama’s inaugural ceremony. The historical significance, the free events, and the extended hours of D.C. bars made the five-hour drive simply too enticing for New Yorkers, especially the hipper denizens of the outer boroughs.

One of those inauguration attendees was Brooklyn’s own Jessica Russell. Russell lives in Fort Greene and works as a real estate assistant in Manhattan, but when tickets to the inauguration dropped in her lap, she said goodbye to her life in New York.

“Someone who worked on the campaign just gave me tickets,” she said. “The inauguration is awesome and I wanted to be here to see the day.”

Russell arrived in D.C. on the Monday before the inauguration and left the Wednesday after. She arrived at the National Mall at 8:30 a.m., but it took her and her friends nearly three hours to get to their section near the left side the Capitol Building.

“The mall was crazy,” she said. “Everything was closed off. We almost missed the inauguration, but we got there just in time at 11:30.”

Though it was cold and crowded, she said that she was thrilled to be a part of history.

“It was cool that all these thousands of people were out there together, and all with the same mindset,” Russell said. “I’m glad I did it.”

Her friends on the campaign took Russell to a campaign party the night after the inauguration, which the newly sworn-in President Obama was spotted at. Her time in D.C. was not long, but it was very, very sweet. (Jeffrey Harmatz)